Group Files Suit Against Obama Administration for Access to Visitor Logs

By Michael D. Shear
President Obama has embraced Bush Administration justifications for denying public access to White House visitors logs even as advisers say they are reviewing the policy of keeping secret the official record of comings and goings.

In recent days, the Secret Service has rejected requests from two organizations for the logs, which document the West Wing meetings that have helped shape Obama's policies on banking regulation, economic recovery, foreign policy and the auto industry.

Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration seeking release of the visits of coal company executives to the White House. Msnbc.com reported today that their broader request for logs since Jan. 20 was also denied.

"The Obama administration has now taken exactly the same position as the Bush administration, telling us the visitor logs are presidential records," said Anne Weismann, the legal counsel for CREW. "I don't see how you can keep people from knowing who visits the White House and adhere to a policy of openness and transparency. The discrepancy between the rhetoric and the policy is especially great."

Asked about the issue by reporters, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said today that the administration's policy regarding the release of the logs is under review.

"The policy -- as you know, and I think many of you know, this has involved -- visitor logs have been involved in some litigation dating back to sometime in 2006," Gibbs said. "The White House is reviewing that policy based on some of that litigation."

Gibbs declined to say when the review would be completed, but said it is being conducted by the White House counsel's office and "other people."

"The goal is, and I think the president underscored his commitment to transparency on his first full day in office," Gibbs said. "This is not a contest between this administration or that administration or any administration. It's to uphold the principle of open government."

A White House official, who asked for anonymity to discuss the issue, said the denials were issued in accordance with "historically how visitor logs have been treated." The official said the White House is still examining the lawsuit filed by CREW and could not respond yet.

As a candidate, Obama had promised to run a more open and transparent government than his predecessor. Since becoming president, he has repeated those promises in executive orders and declarations saying that the secrecy of the Bush administration was over.

Among the new moves by Obama were the overturning of a Bush executive order that limited public access to presidential records from earlier presidencies; an order to agencies to have a presumption in favor of disclosure when a freedom of information request is made; and a "memorandum of transparency" that Obama signed on his first full day in office.

The transparency memo ordered executive agencies to take "specific action" to be more transparent. A spokesman for the White House noted that the administration has created a website for information about the recovery act, posts presidential memoranda and executive orders on Whitehouse.gov, and streams White House events live on its website.

In a move that generated much controversy, the White House agreed to release memoranda detailing the alleged torture of detainees. That decision sparked a heated debate and was criticized by former Bush administration officials who opposed the release of the memos.

But in the first several months of his presidency, Obama has repeatedly taken the Bush administration position on questions of secrecy, surprising his allies and good government groups who say they had expected a different approach.

The White House initially decided to release photos of detainee abuse but later reversed course. They also continued the Bush administration objections to release of an interview that former vice president Dick Cheney gave to the FBI during its leak investigation. Like the Bush administration, they also moved to dismiss lawsuits that sought White House emails from the last several years.

The White House has also not yet responded to CREW's request for the release of documents produced by the Office of Administration, a branch of the White House that had been subject to FOIA requests until the Bush administration, Weismann said.

"As time goes by, I'm less and less surprised," she said. "Initially, I was very surprised and disappointed. I continue to be disappointed, but with every new decision to hew to the line that the Bush administration took, I guess my surprise is fading."

A White House official said the issue of the visitor logs is one of several secrecy policies under review by the White House legal counsels, along with the "state secrets privilege" under which the government keeps information secret during trials.

During a press conference earlier this year, Obama said the Bush administration's use of that privilege was "too broad" and said the policy was being examined. He said his administration's decision in several court cases claim the privilege was the result of his short time in office.

"But keep in mind what happens, is we come in to office," Obama said. "We're in for a week, and suddenly we've got a court filing that's coming up. And so we don't have the time to effectively think through, what exactly should an overarching reform of that doctrine take? We've got to respond to the immediate case in front of us."

More broken promises and lies from Obama is barely news anymore there are so many of them. Get real folks we elected the Chicago Way to the White House! If you don't know that means, it means broken promises, lies, and corruption are now standard operating procedure at the White House!

catmomtx wrote, Of course a lot of you are talking about the transparency President Obama promised but why should he give up the power Republicans allowed Bush to have?

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Maybe because he promised CHANGE and not more of the same.......I find it amazing how quickly liberals change their beliefs, values, and accept policies they never would under a conservative. "If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything," and Obama has shown how weak your principles really are my liberal friends...

was that makeup on john harwood nose..or something left from obama's colon?...and pssst olame-o...fox news is number #1 because people want to hear the fair and balanced side of things...not the liberal brownnose media obama side....obama even shut off the vistors list to give his colon a chance to rest from all the stuffing from the liberal media...and the first ones to whine was msnbc...waaaaaa!

It's funny that Republicans had no problems with all the secrecy in the Bush White House. They applauded as Bush/Cheney work to gain more and more power, never believing Republicans would lose control. Now some of the powers they put into place to apparently hide what they were doing are being used by the Obama administration, go figure. Of course a lot of you are talking about the transparency President Obama promised but why should he give up the power Republicans allowed Bush to have?

They better finish their "secrecy" reviews soon before Obama's reputation goes totally down the drain. This type of secrecy was unacceptable under Bush and it is equally unacceptable under Obama. We need sunlight to disinfect the WH after 8 years of Bush and Cheney. End the cover ups! Give us the transparency we were promised!

I am not sure which aspect I perceive as more incredulous. Is it the belief from the left that a politician, regardless of stripes or spots, would change his (or her!) path as soon as he is in office? Or is the right the most ridiculous, yet again, for believing the believers should change their minds over something this trivial? Or is it, as I believe, that America as a whole is completely off it's rocker because this extremely small example of 'opaquity' (it'll be in Colbert's Dictionary soon) should not be newsworthy or suitworthy. Especially when we still don't know exactly where $1 Trillion is going, nor when.

Sadly, although we usually get what we ask for, there are many who forget either what they asked for or how they thought it would be delivered!
Governance in a democracy is the excution of the possible. Impossible promises are never delivered, so now the expectations are unfulfilled and memory loss is rampant, in the public and the white house! Next time READ the fine print!

Obama=Bush-lite .. when it comes to too many issues. I am not very comfortable with a President who breaks his promises over and over again, before he has even finished his first 6 months of his term. Very disappointing.

Posted by: paris1969

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You were comfortable with Bush; maybe it's because Bush was white.

Obama hasn't broken all of his promises. He didn't raise my taxes, and I don't make over $250K per year.

Looking for the truth? ..."You couldn't stand the truth"...in the words of: Jack Nicholson. President Obama has not been in office six months. No one wanted to know what was going on in the white House for the past forty-fifty years? Now we 'the concerned public' want to micro manage the presidency, what a bunch of hypocrites!

Silly rabbit, don't you get it, it's the Corporations, particularly the multiglobal corporations that ought to be watched!

Every thing 'wrong' economically, politicallly, and/or businesswise can and should be laid at the feet of global corporations they are the true 'causative' factors of everything that is and has gone wrong during our life time. Minimally, unless our countries economic, political, and business thinking does not bebefit 'we the 'people' we are headed down the eventual road of facism, facism, facism.

Henry George proposed a beginning solution in 1879, of course, those who represented aristocratic-corporate interest have been fighting this solution ever since. Let's not forget we over threw rule by aristocracy when we established rule by the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, and the American Creed. This often makes me wonder what happen to our American-Common Sense?

Insofar as health care is concerned, we all should receive the 'quality' of care and the kind of health coverage that our 'Elected Officials' Corporate CEO's and their family members have, no more, no less! After all what's good for the goose is good for the gander! What's good for the rich 10% ought to be good-enough for the bottom 10%? Or do we have two (2) Americas, one (1) for the very, very, rich and one (1) for the very, very, poor?

Obama=Bush-lite .. when it comes to too many issues. I am not very comfortable with a President who breaks his promises over and over again, before he has even finished his first 6 months of his term. Very disappointing.

Ahh, Obama. He's basically a spineless version of Bush, with the added bonus of being even less competent at diplomacy (including repeated snafus with Britain, giving the Russians a mis-translated "overcharge" button, etc). Plus -- and I know this sounds crazy -- he buzzed NYC with a low flying jumbo jet. Hard to believe, and yet some historians say it happened.

Everything Obamy has said is true. "No one making less than $250K will see one dime in tax increase. I am not taking over the banks. I am not taking over the auto industry. I am not taking over the health care industry.". Now, don't you feel better? How's that "hope and change" working for ya? Perhaps Obamy will adopt the slogan "Arbeit Macht Frei". It would be appropriate.

Words I have never heard before,
1.Overseas Contengency means same as Global War on Terror (WOT)
2. Secular progressive philosophy
3. Income re-distribution or redistribution of Wealth (Thats our money
they are moving around)
4. Social engneering 5. Czars in Our US Goverment. 6.Obamanomics (killing
capitalism) 7.Progessive or
(Liberalism), only another word for Communism or Socialism.
8. Our constitutional rights are slowing being taken away!

Imagine that! Obama is taking a careful look at the multi-faceted question of openess and not jumping into an extreme ideological position. Go figure.

He's made numerous decisions opening up the government after 8 years of complete and total secrecy by the Cheney/Bush administration. Occasionally, he'll step back and look carefully at one policy or the next. It doesn't mean he's 'embracing' the Bush doctrine.

Ahh, Obama. He's basically a spineless version of Bush, with the added bonus of being even less competent at diplomacy (including repeated snafus with Britain, giving the Russians a mis-translated "overcharge" button, etc). Plus -- and I know this sounds crazy -- he buzzed NYC with a low flying jumbo jet. Hard to believe, and yet some historians say it happened.

Obama is a world class fraud.He self righteously proclaimed his open,transparent government...and it isn`t happening.He said...no lobbyists in his White House and now doesn`t even bother to seek waivers for the tsunami of lobbyists who are taking jobs at every level of government.His car czar wouldn`t attend a Congressional Hearing last week.Instead,we were subjected to a crew of [Obama appointed]auto execs who were tormented by pompous politicians posturing for the TV cameras.The IG for the Treasury has no clue [and no interest]in explaining where billions of Fed funds went as part of the Stimulus program.Our president is not ready for prime time and there is no place for him to hide anymore.

"Obama isn't the candidate of "change". He isn't even the candidate of the US Constitution"

Look out! "Birther" attack at 4:00!!

I do think that Obama is playing games with the "transparency" mantra but the constant attempts to paint Obama as "un-American" and illegitimate are the hallmarks of sore, bitter whiners and make it difficult to credit the valid points that you make.

Just what is our transparency President hiding? Too many musical guests? Too many Kevin Johnson visits? Too much Japanese Kobe Beef being served to the Hollywood crowd? Come on Mr. Obama. You have bashed Bush constantly and now you are doing the same thing he was doing.

Interesting how open this dishonest slug's White House is. Doesn't he want us to see the lowlifes who are visiting?

Hey Shear, do you think anyone will do an investigative report on Americorps and the lack of oversight for our tax dollars now that the incompetent in chief has decided to fire the IG who found Obama's friend Johnson misusing our tax dollars?
ACORN and the other sleazy "community organizers" will have a field day now that no one will be watching.

This a$_ hole is making bill Clinton and the other democrat crooks look honest.

The people whose opinions matter to Obama are the people named in those logs, and "transparent" Obama doesn't want you to see who they are, because they're not YOU.

When will Obama's supporters admit that he's not what they voted for? How many Bush emulations will it take? Foreign policy, check. Domestic spying, check. Religion in government, check. Crony capitalism, check. Robbing from the poor to pay the rich, check. Maintaining wars in the ME, check. And so on.... and on... and on...

Obama isn't the candidate of "change". He isn't even the candidate of the US Constitution. He's the candidate that should prove once and forever that the two party system is DOA and if we don't do something quick about it, so will our country.

I don't blame Obama, I blame all the fools who listen to his everyword and believed it. He has the same problems that Bush had and in many instances the information he used to campaign against bush are things that he knew would not change in his white house. I do love how the Post publishes that Obama is doing something wrong but it's the same wrong thing that bush did. I think in their effort to protect 44 they make him look even more of a pretender!

it's funny, clinton was the first "black President" and obama's has all his former aides by his side and even his wife to help him correct what he didn't get right in the first democratic presidency. If you look at it this way you could compare them to bush 1 and 2. HW didn't finish Iraq for good reason but foolish george thought he could. Clintons failed on nationalized medicine for the right reasons, but Obama so high on himself that he believes he can make it work. So ask your self how things work out in the bush case? history is nothing but an indicator of the future!

A Federal Judge has already ruled on this issue in January of this year. Visitor Logs ARE NOT covered under the Presidential Records Act. They are under the purview of the Secret Service and therefore are responsive to FOIA requests.

I guess Obama will take this to the Supreme Court... the same way he is invoking the state secret privilege to stonewall other cases -- doing perfect impression of Bush.

Anyone who cannot see the hypocrisy in Obama's actions is either ignorant or in denial.

It’s official. America and the World are now in a GLOBAL PANDEMIC. A World EPIDEMIC with potential catastrophic consequences for ALL of the American people. The first PANDEMIC in 41 years. And WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES will have to face this PANDEMIC with the 37th worst quality of healthcare in the developed World.

STAND READY AMERICA TO SEIZE CONTROL OF YOUR NATIONAL HEALTHCARE SYSTEM.

We spend over twice as much of our GDP on healthcare as any other country in the World. And Individual American spend about ten times as much out of pocket on healthcare as any other people in the World. All because of GREED! And the PRIVATE FOR PROFIT healthcare system in America.

And while all this is going on, some members of congress seem mostly concern about how to protect the corporate PROFITS! of our GREED DRIVEN, PRIVATE FOR PROFIT NATIONAL DISGRACE. A PRIVATE FOR PROFIT DISGRACE that is in fact, totally valueless to the public health. And a detriment to national security, public safety, and the public health.

Progressive democrats and others should stand firm in their demand for a robust public option for all Americans, with all of the minimum requirements progressive democrats demanded. If congress can not pass a robust public option with at least 51 votes and all robust minimum requirements, congress should immediately move to scrap healthcare reform and demand that President Obama declare a state of NATIONAL HEALTHCARE EMERGENCY! Seizing and replacing all PRIVATE FOR PROFIT health insurance plans with the immediate implementation of National Healthcare for all Americans under the provisions of HR676 (A Single-payer National Healthcare Plan For All).

Coverage can begin immediately through our current medicare system. With immediate expansion through recruitment of displaced workers from the canceled private sector insurance industry. Funding can also begin immediately by substitution of payroll deductions for private insurance plans with payroll deductions for the national healthcare plan. This is what the vast majority of the American people want. And this is what all objective experts unanimously agree would be the best, and most cost effective for the American people and our economy.

In Mexico on average people who received medical care for A-H1N1 (Swine Flu) with in 3 days survived. People who did not receive medical care until 7 days or more died. This has been the same results in the US. But 50 million Americans don’t even have any healthcare coverage. And at least 200 million of you with insurance could not get in to see your private insurance plans doctors in 2 or 3 days, even if your life depended on it. WHICH IT DOES!

The Obama administration should be taken to the court to force this issue. Obama cannot have it both ways, promise transparency and then refuse to tell the american public who visits the peopl'e house.

mkellyrose,
I could not agree with you more. NeoCon Hate Mongers need to get on board with using the mind first and then just sit very, very still until the fear and hate pass.
Note: This may take a life time.

Somehow there needs to be a clear, distinct separation between the president's business and personal matters. One that can hold him accountable for all dealings in the business of running the government but leave him alone in the running of his own personal life.

On the one hand, there probably were lobbyists or some potential political liability visiting that, like his predecessor, the president doesn't want to share. On the other hand, he still has a right to live his personal life however questionable and it is noone's business but his.

The last thing we need is another unaccountable president living in a vacuum.

First of all, the loudest critics here are Republicans, who of course have no grounds to complain.

To liberal critics, remember that Obama is characterized by prudence and his behavior so far is entirely consistent with that. He will not change the policy until it has been reviewed and vetted by his own staff. Keep pushing, but if he doesn't immediately solve all of your complaints, maintain a modicum of perspective.

Once again - many of the same ones of us who tried in vain, twice, with Bush to warn the masses about voting for him also were in the large crowd cautioning that Obama was not the way to go for the Dem nomination. Did the multitudes listen with Bush? No. Did they listen this time? No again. When is the voting public going to develop critical thinking skills and not just charisma addiction?

so much for transperancy. The funny thing is if bush were black the people would not care if he setup concentration camps in the middle of major cities. The novelty of the man being black has blinded the common sense of americans!

President was elected on the personal promises he made to the public who voted for him.
Keep your word.
"The Obama administration has now taken exactly the same position as the Bush administration, telling us the visitor logs are presidential records," or
"a policy of openness and transparency."
What was the promise?
Keep your word.